THE HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF KWEICHOW 177 



in a. report about these aborigines — "before these tribes 

 could be scientifically assigned by ethnologists they must be 

 reduced to order among themselves, and the best hope of 

 such a change lies in the work being done amongst them by 

 such people as these indomitable ladies." 



I took a craniometer out with me in hopes of finding 

 someone both willing and competent to make use of it in 

 getting data for the anthropologists at home, and was glad 

 to rind such a person in Miss Welzel, who can take skull 

 measurements, etc., without raising any feeling of mistrust 

 among them while engaged in her medical work. One of 

 her patients, a girl of twenty-four, was examined by Dr. 

 Edwards, who found her suffering from such serious heart 

 trouble that anyone so ill here would hardly walk from one 

 room to another, but she had come seme twenty-three miles, 

 and was going to walk that distance back again. This pro- 

 vince is unfortunately almost without medical missions, the 

 only hospital to which we came being closed during the 

 absence on furlough of its one and only doctor. 



In concluding my notes on the tribespeople, I should 

 like to indicate what appears to be the striking contrast 

 between them and the Chinese as to their general character- 

 istics : they are warlike, frank, lawless, primitive, indepen- 

 dent, open-hearted, generous, opposed to trading and to city 

 life : some are great riders, but we never saw one on 

 horseback; that may be due to their poverty, and we heard 

 of no rich ones. Amongst the Chinese at Tating on the 

 other hand, we heard of some possessing country houses and 

 sometimes we passed well-to-do-looking homesteads on our 

 journey to Kweiyang, which may well have belonged to 

 wealthy people. 



We left Tating by the same road as we entered it, for 

 the first fifteen miles, . and by dint of rather long stages 

 succeeded in reaching Kweiyang on the fifth day. While on 

 the journey we came to a fine five-span bridge with a gate- 

 way at each end and decorative carved stonework, but alas 

 it was in so ruinous a condition that it probably no longer 

 exists. It is one of the most disappointing things in China 

 that nothing is kept in repair, and yet they are such past 

 masters in the art when forced to do it for reasons of 

 safety or economy. The roads were very bad, and the 

 constant wet weather made them incredibly slippery and 

 muddy. It was impossible to follow our usual plan of lunch- 

 ing outside a village while our men went forward into it 

 for their meal, so our chairs were set down close together 

 in the street of a prosperous village, and the soldiers drew a 

 cordon at a discreet distance round us, beyond which an 

 12 



